WO2023157957A1

WO2023157957A1 - Information processing device, information processing method, and information processing program

Info

Publication number: WO2023157957A1
Application number: PCT/JP2023/005844
Authority: WO
Inventors: 悠長谷川
Original assignee: 富士フイルム株式会社
Priority date: 2022-02-18
Filing date: 2023-02-17
Publication date: 2023-08-24

Abstract

This information processing device comprises at least one processor. The processor obtains at least one existing sentence and a new sentence described after the existing sentence, in which different sets of medical information of the same subject are described, and determines the order in which the existing sentence and the new sentence are arranged, according to a predetermined rule, on the basis of the medical information described in each of the existing sentence and the new sentence.

Description

Information processing device, information processing method and information processing program

The present disclosure relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, and an information processing program.

Conventionally, image diagnosis is performed using medical images obtained by imaging devices such as CT (Computed Tomography) devices and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) devices. In addition, medical images are analyzed by CAD (Computer Aided Detection/Diagnosis) using discriminators trained by deep learning, etc., and regions of interest including structures and lesions included in medical images are detected and/or Diagnosis is being made. The medical image and the CAD analysis result are transmitted to the terminal of a medical worker such as an interpreting doctor who interprets the medical image. A medical professional such as an interpreting doctor interprets the medical image by referring to the medical image and the analysis result using his/her own terminal, and creates an interpretation report.

In addition, various methods have been proposed to support the creation of interpretation reports in order to reduce the burden of interpretation work on radiologists. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2019-153250 discloses a technique for creating an interpretation report based on keywords input by an interpretation doctor and analysis results of medical images. In the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2019-153250, sentences to be described in an interpretation report are created using a recurrent neural network trained to generate sentences from input characters.

Further, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2019-149005, when character information representing finding content for a medical image is input, the medical information including the analysis result of the medical image is referred to, and content candidates related to the character information are generated. Presenting and creating a medical document into which selected content is inserted is disclosed.

By the way, the interpretation report may contain multiple observation statements with different contents such as the organ, lesion, and imaging date and time to be described. For ease of reading, it is desirable to collectively describe observation statements with similar content, taking into account the order in which multiple observation statements included in the interpretation report are written. However, conventional techniques do not consider the order in which observation statements are written, and there are cases where an interpretation report that is difficult to read is created.

The present disclosure provides an information processing device, an information processing method, and an information processing program that can support creation of an interpretation report.

A first aspect of the present disclosure is an information processing device, which includes at least one processor, and the processor includes at least one existing sentence describing mutually different medical information of the same subject, and from the existing sentence A new sentence described later is acquired, and the order of arrangement of the existing sentence and the new sentence is determined according to a predetermined rule based on the medical information described by each of the existing sentence and the new sentence.

In the second aspect of the present disclosure, in the first aspect, the processor may identify medical information from each of the existing sentence and the new sentence.

In the third aspect of the present disclosure, in the first aspect or the second aspect, when there are multiple existing sentences, the processor may determine the order of arrangement including rearranging the existing sentences.

A fourth aspect of the present disclosure is the first aspect or the second aspect, wherein when there are a plurality of existing sentences, the processor determines an insertion position of the new sentence while fixing the arrangement order of the plurality of existing sentences. You can also determine the sorting order.

A fifth aspect of the present disclosure is any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein the medical information indicates at least one of the type of organ, the type of lesion, and the type of examination, and the processor may determine the order of arrangement so that existing sentences and new sentences are arranged according to the type of medical information.

According to a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, in any one of the first to fifth aspects, the medical information indicates a property of a lesion, and the processor generates an existing sentence and a new sentence for each property of the medical information. You may decide the order of arrangement so that

In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, in any one of the first to sixth aspects, the processor identifies factuality about the medical information from each of the existing sentence and the new sentence, The order of arrangement may be determined so that existing sentences and new sentences are arranged according to factual gender.

According to an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, in any one of the first to seventh aspects, the medical information has a predetermined degree of importance, and the processor generates an existing sentence with a high degree of importance of the medical information and The order of arrangement may be determined such that newer sentences are positioned closer to the beginning of the sentence.

According to a ninth aspect of the present disclosure, in any one of the first to eighth aspects, the medical information indicates a time point at which the examination is performed, and the processor is configured to include the existing sentence and the new sentence in chronological order. The order may be determined so that they line up.

In a tenth aspect of the present disclosure, in any one of the first to ninth aspects, the processor acquires a past document containing a sentence describing the medical information of the subject, an existing sentence and The order of arrangement may be determined based on whether the medical information corresponding to the new sentence is included in the past document.

An eleventh aspect of the present disclosure is any one of the first to tenth aspects, wherein at least one of the existing sentence and the new sentence includes a sentence generated based on a medical image. may

In a twelfth aspect of the present disclosure, in any one of the first to eleventh aspects, the processor may rearrange the existing sentences and the new sentences based on the determined order of arrangement.

In the thirteenth aspect of the present disclosure, in the twelfth aspect, the processor may highlight the new sentence and display the rearranged existing sentence and the new sentence on the display.

A fourteenth aspect of the present disclosure is the twelfth aspect or the thirteenth aspect, wherein when the existing sentences are rearranged, the processor highlights the rearranged existing sentences and Subsequent existing sentences and new sentences may be displayed on the display.

According to a fifteenth aspect of the present disclosure, in any one of the first to fourteenth aspects, the processor may cause the display to display information indicating rules for the order of arrangement.

A sixteenth aspect of the present disclosure is an information processing method comprising: at least one existing sentence describing mutually different medical information of the same subject; and a new sentence described after the existing sentence. It includes a process of determining the order of arrangement of the existing sentences and the new sentences according to a predetermined rule based on the medical information acquired and described by each of the existing sentences and the new sentences.

A seventeenth aspect of the present disclosure is an information processing program comprising: at least one existing sentence describing mutually different medical information of the same subject; and a new sentence described after the existing sentence. It is for causing a computer to execute a process of determining the sequence of existing sentences and new sentences according to a predetermined rule based on the medical information acquired and described by each of the existing sentences and the new sentences.

According to the above aspect, the information processing device, information processing method, and information processing program of the present disclosure can support creation of an interpretation report.

It is a figure which shows an example of schematic structure of an information processing system. It is a figure which shows an example of a medical image. It is a figure which shows an example of a medical image. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of an information processing apparatus. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of an information processing device; FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen displayed on a display. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen displayed on a display. It is a figure for demonstrating rearrangement of observation sentences. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen displayed on a display. It is a flow chart which shows an example of information processing.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. First, the configuration of an information processing system 1 to which the information processing apparatus of the present disclosure is applied will be described. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an information processing system 1. As shown in FIG. An information processing system 1 shown in FIG. 1 performs imaging of an examination target site of a subject based on an examination order from a doctor of a clinical department using a known ordering system, and stores medical images obtained by the imaging. In addition, an interpretation doctor performs interpretation of medical images and creates an interpretation report, and a doctor of the department that requested the interpretation views the interpretation report.

As shown in FIG. 1, an information processing system 1 includes an imaging device 2, an image interpretation terminal (WorkStation) 3, a medical examination WS 4, an image server 5, an image DB (DataBase) 6, a report server 7, and a report DB 8. . The imaging device 2, interpretation WS 3, diagnosis WS 4, image server 5, image DB 6, report server 7, and report DB 8 are connected to each other via a wired or wireless network 9 so as to be able to communicate with each other.

Each device is a computer installed with an application program for functioning as a component of the information processing system 1 . The application program may be recorded on a recording medium such as a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) and a CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory) for distribution, and may be installed in the computer from the recording medium. Alternatively, for example, it may be stored in a storage device of a server computer connected to the network 9 or in a network storage in an externally accessible state, downloaded to the computer upon request, and installed.

The imaging device 2 is a device (modality) that generates a medical image T representing the diagnosis target region by imaging the diagnosis target region of the subject. Specifically, it includes a plain X-ray apparatus, a CT (Computed Tomography) apparatus, an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) apparatus, a PET (Positron Emission Tomography) apparatus, and the like. A medical image generated by the imaging device 2 is transmitted to the image server 5 and stored in the image DB 6 .

The interpretation WS3 is a computer used by a medical practitioner such as an interpreting doctor in a radiology department to interpret medical images and create an interpretation report, and includes the information processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment. The image interpretation WS3 requests the image server 5 to view medical images, performs various image processing on the medical images received from the image server 5, displays the medical images, and accepts input of sentences related to the medical images. Further, the interpretation WS 3 performs analysis processing on medical images, supports creation of interpretation reports based on the analysis results, requests registration and viewing of interpretation reports to the report server 7 , and displays interpretation reports received from the report server 7 . will be These processes are performed by the interpretation WS3 executing a software program for each process.

The clinical WS 4 is a computer used by medical staff such as doctors in clinical departments for detailed observation of medical images, viewing of interpretation reports, and creation of electronic charts. and an input device such as a keyboard and mouse. In the medical care WS 4, a medical image viewing request to the image server 5, a medical image display received from the image server 5, an interpretation report viewing request to the report server 7, and an interpretation report received from the report server 7 are displayed. . These processes are performed by the clinical WS 4 executing software programs for each process.

The image server 5 is a general-purpose computer installed with a software program that provides the functions of a database management system (DBMS). The image server 5 is connected with the image DB 6 . The form of connection between the image server 5 and the image DB 6 is not particularly limited, and may be a form of connection via a data bus, or a form of connection via a network such as NAS (Network Attached Storage) or SAN (Storage Area Network). It may be in the form of

The image DB 6 is realized by storage media such as HDD (Hard Disk Drive), SSD (Solid State Drive) and flash memory. In the image DB 6, the medical images acquired by the imaging device 2 and the incidental information attached to the medical images are registered in association with each other.

The incidental information includes, for example, an image ID (identification) for identifying a medical image, a tomographic ID assigned to each tomographic image included in the medical image, a subject ID for identifying a subject, and a test identifying Identification information such as an examination ID for the purpose may be included. In addition, the incidental information may include, for example, information on imaging such as an imaging method, imaging conditions, and imaging date and time relating to imaging of medical images. The “imaging method” and “imaging conditions” are, for example, the type of imaging device 2, imaging region, imaging protocol, imaging sequence, imaging technique, use/nonuse of contrast medium, slice thickness in tomography, and the like. In addition, the incidental information may include information about the subject such as the subject's name, age, and sex.

Also, when the image server 5 receives a registration request for a medical image from the imaging device 2 , the medical image is arranged in a database format and registered in the image DB 6 . In addition, upon receiving a viewing request from the interpretation WS3 and the medical care WS4, the image server 5 searches for medical images registered in the image DB 6, and transmits the retrieved medical images to the interpretation WS3 and the medical care WS4 that requested the viewing. do.

The report server 7 is a general-purpose computer installed with a software program that provides the functions of a database management system. The report server 7 is connected with the report DB 8 . The form of connection between the report server 7 and the report DB 8 is not particularly limited, and may be a form of connection via a data bus or a form of connection via a network such as NAS or SAN.

The report DB 8 is realized, for example, by storage media such as HDD, SSD and flash memory. An interpretation report created in the interpretation WS3 is registered in the report DB8.

Also, when the report server 7 receives an interpretation report registration request from the interpretation WS 3 , it formats the interpretation report into a database format and registers it in the report DB 8 . In addition, when the report server 7 receives a viewing request for an interpretation report from the interpretation WS3 and the medical treatment WS4, it searches for the interpretation report registered in the report DB8, and sends the retrieved interpretation report to the interpretation WS3 and the medical treatment Send to WS4.

The network 9 is, for example, a LAN (Local Area Network) or a WAN (Wide Area Network). Note that the imaging device 2, image interpretation WS 3, medical care WS 4, image server 5, image DB 6, report server 7, and report DB 8 included in the information processing system 1 may be located in the same medical institution, or may be located in different medical institutions. It may be placed in an institution or the like. Further, the number of each of the imaging device 2, interpretation WS 3, diagnosis WS 4, image server 5, image DB 6, report server 7 and report DB 8 is not limited to the number shown in FIG. It may consist of a single device.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing an example of a medical image acquired by the imaging device 2. FIG. The medical image T shown in FIG. 2 is, for example, a CT image composed of a plurality of tomographic images T1 to Tm (where m is 2 or more) each representing a tomographic plane from the head to the waist of one subject (human body). .

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing an example of one tomographic image Tx out of the plurality of tomographic images T1 to Tm. A tomographic image Tx shown in FIG. 3 represents a tomographic plane including lungs. In each of the tomographic images T1 to Tm, a structural region showing various organs and organs of the human body (eg, lungs, liver, etc.) and various tissues constituting various organs and organs (eg, blood vessels, nerves, muscles, etc.) SA can be included. Each tomographic image may also include areas AA of abnormal shadows indicating lesions such as nodules, tumors, lesions, defects and inflammations. In the tomographic image Tx shown in FIG. 3, the lung region is the structure region SA, and the nodule region is the abnormal shadow region AA. At least one of the structure area SA and the abnormal shadow area AA is hereinafter referred to as a "region of interest". Note that one tomographic image may include a plurality of regions of interest.

By the way, the interpretation report may contain multiple observation statements with different contents such as the structure to be described, the lesion, and the date and time when the medical image was taken. For ease of reading, it is desirable to collectively describe observation statements with similar content, taking into account the order in which multiple observation statements included in the interpretation report are written. Therefore, the information processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment has a function of assisting creation of an interpretation report in consideration of the order of description of observation sentences. The information processing apparatus 10 will be described below. As described above, the information processing apparatus 10 is included in the interpretation WS3.

First, an example of the hardware configuration of the information processing apparatus 10 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the information processing apparatus 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 21, a non-volatile storage section 22, and a memory 23 as a temporary storage area. The information processing apparatus 10 also includes a display 24 such as a liquid crystal display, an input unit 25 such as a keyboard and a mouse, and a network I/F (Interface) 26 . A network I/F 26 is connected to the network 9 and performs wired or wireless communication. The CPU 21, the storage unit 22, the memory 23, the display 24, the input unit 25, and the network I/F 26 are connected via a bus 28 such as a system bus and a control bus so that various information can be exchanged with each other.

The storage unit 22 is realized by storage media such as HDD, SSD, and flash memory, for example. An information processing program 27 for the information processing apparatus 10 is stored in the storage unit 22 . The CPU 21 reads out the information processing program 27 from the storage unit 22 , expands it in the memory 23 , and executes the expanded information processing program 27 . CPU 21 is an example of a processor of the present disclosure. As the information processing device 10, for example, a personal computer, a server computer, a smart phone, a tablet terminal, a wearable terminal, or the like can be appropriately applied.

Next, an example of the functional configuration of the information processing apparatus 10 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, the information processing apparatus 10 includes an acquisition unit 30, a generation unit 32, an identification unit 34, a determination unit 36, and a control unit 38. FIG. By executing the information processing program 27 by the CPU 21 , the CPU 21 functions as an acquisition unit 30 , a generation unit 32 , a specification unit 34 , a determination unit 36 and a control unit 38 .

(Acquisition of existing sentences and generation of new sentences)
First, with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7, the function of each processing unit relating to acquisition and generation of a plurality of observation sentences included in an interpretation report will be described.

The acquisition unit 30 acquires from the image server 5 at least one medical image for which an interpretation report is to be created. For example, the acquisition unit 30 may acquire a CT image composed of multiple tomographic images T1 to Tm. In addition, for example, the acquisition unit 30 acquires images related to the same subject, such as a plurality of medical images (for example, a combination of simple CT images, contrast-enhanced CT images, and MRI images) with different types of imaging devices 2, imaging conditions, and imaging methods. Multiple medical images may be acquired.

In addition, the acquisition unit 30 acquires from the report server 7, the storage unit 22, and the like, an interpretation report that already includes at least one finding statement describing the same subject as that of the acquired medical image. This interpretation report is, for example, one that is temporarily stored during creation, one that is created by another radiologist when the interpretation doctor is different for each medical image (for example, each organ), and one that was created in the past. There may be. Hereinafter, an observation sentence that has already been written in the interpretation report will be referred to as an existing sentence 60 .

The control unit 38 performs control to display the medical image and the existing sentence 60 acquired by the acquisition unit 30 on the display 24 . FIG. 6 shows an example of a screen D1 displayed on the display 24 by the controller 38. As shown in FIG. The screen D<b>1 includes the medical image Tx acquired by the acquisition unit 30 and the existing sentence 60 .

The screen D1 also includes a slider bar 90 for accepting an operation for selecting an image to be displayed on the display 24 from the plurality of tomographic images T1 to Tm. The slider bar 90 is a GUI (Graphical User Interface) part also called a slide bar and a scroll bar. An example of the screen D1 corresponds to a plurality of tomographic images T1 to Tm arranged in order from the head side to the waist side from the top end to the bottom end.

The control unit 38 receives a user's operation of the position of the slider 92 on the slider bar 90 via the input unit 25, and selects one image (Fig. 6 In this example, the tomographic image Tx) is displayed on the screen D1. 6 indicates the movable range of the slider 92 on the slider bar 90. As shown in FIG.

The screen D1 also includes an observation text generation button 94. When the user selects the finding statement generation button 94, the generation unit 32 generates the Generate at least one finding statement. The observation sentence newly generated by the generation unit 32 is hereinafter referred to as a new sentence 62 .

Specifically, first, the generation unit 32 analyzes a medical image using CAD or the like, and detects a region of interest included in the medical image. As a method for detecting the region of interest, for example, a pre-learned model such as a CNN (Convolutional Neural Network) that is pre-learned such that the input is a medical image and the output is a region of interest detected from the medical image may be used. . This trained model is, for example, a model trained by machine learning using a large number of medical images in which regions of interest, that is, regions having predetermined physical features, are known as learning data. "A region having physical characteristics" is, for example, a region with a preset range of pixel values (for example, a region with relatively white/black masses with pixel values compared to the surrounding area), and a preset A region of shape can be mentioned. Further, for example, a region in the medical image specified by the user via the input unit 25 may be detected as the region of interest.

Next, the generating unit 32 generates medical information 70 indicating the name (kind), properties, measured values, position, estimated disease name (including negative or positive evaluation results), etc. of the detected region of interest. As a method for generating the medical information 70, for example, a learned model such as a CNN that is pre-learned so that the input is the region of interest detected from the medical image and the output is the medical information 70 related to the region of interest may be used. .

Examples of names (types) include names of structures such as "lung" and "liver", and names of abnormal shadows such as "lung nodule" and "liver cyst". Characteristic mainly means the characteristics of the abnormal opacity. For example, for pulmonary nodules, absorption values such as “solid” and “frosted”, margins such as “clear/unclear”, “smooth/irregular”, “spicular”, “lobed” and “serrated” Shape and findings indicative of overall shape such as "nearly circular" and "irregular" are included. In addition, for example, the relationship with surrounding tissues such as “pleural contact” and “pleural indentation”, and findings regarding the presence or absence of contrast enhancement and washout.

A measured value is a value that can be quantitatively measured from a medical image, and includes, for example, size (major axis, minor axis, volume, etc.), CT value in units of HU, and the number of regions of interest when there are multiple regions of interest. and the distance between regions of interest. Also, the measured values may be replaced with qualitative expressions such as “large/small” and “large/small”. By location is meant anatomical location, location in a medical image, and relative positional relationship with other regions of interest such as “inside,” “marginal,” and “periphery,” and the like. Anatomical location may be indicated by organ names such as “lung” and “liver”, or lungs may be designated as “right lung”, “upper lobe”, and apical segment (“S1”). It may be represented by a subdivided expression. The estimated disease name is an evaluation result estimated by the generation unit 32 based on the abnormal shadow. evaluation results such as "malignant" and "mild/severe".

It should be noted that the medical information 70 is not limited to being generated based on medical images. For example, the generator 32 may generate the medical information 70 based on information input by the user via the input unit 25 . Further, as described above, each medical image is attached with incidental information including information on imaging at the time of registration in the image DB 6 . Therefore, for example, the generation unit 32 generates information indicating at least one of an imaging method, imaging conditions, and imaging date and time related to imaging of medical images based on additional information attached to the medical images acquired from the image server 5. It may be generated as medical information 70 .

Also, for example, the generation unit 32 may acquire the medical information 70 generated in advance by an external device having a function of generating the medical information 70 based on the medical image as described above from the external device. In addition, for example, the generation unit 32 displays, from an external device such as the medical WS 4, various information included in the examination order and the electronic medical record, information indicating the results of various examinations such as blood tests and infectious disease examinations, and the results of health examinations. Information or the like may be acquired and generated as the medical information 70 as appropriate.

That is, the generation unit 32 generates the medical information 70 based on at least one of the medical image, the information input via the input unit 25, and the incidental information, acquires the medical information 70 from an external device, and the like. All that is necessary is to obtain the medical information 70 relating to the image. Moreover, when a plurality of regions of interest are included in one medical image, the generation unit 32 may generate and/or acquire medical information 70 regarding each of the plurality of regions of interest included in the medical image. In addition, when there are a plurality of medical images for which an interpretation report is to be created, the generation unit 32 may generate and/or acquire the medical information 70 regarding each of the plurality of medical images.

After that, the generating unit 32 generates a new sentence 62 including a description based on the generated and/or obtained medical information 70. In this case, the generator 32 preferably generates a plurality of candidates for the new sentence 62 by changing the combination of the medical information 70 included in the finding sentence. This is because some users prefer concise observations that describe only important findings, while others prefer fuller observations that include negative findings, so multiple options are presented. This is because it is preferable to As a method for generating the new sentence 62, for example, a machine-learned learning model such as a recurrent neural network described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2019-153250 can be applied.

The control unit 38 performs control to display the new sentence 62 generated by the generation unit 32 on the display 24 . FIG. 7 shows an example of a screen D2 displayed on the display 24 by the controller 38. As shown in FIG. The screen D2 includes a plurality of candidate new sentences 62-1 to 62-3 generated by the generation unit 32. FIG. The control unit 38 accepts selection of one of the plurality of candidate new sentences 62-1 to 62-3. In the example of FIG. 7, the new sentence 62-2 is selected.

Also, as shown in FIG. 7, the screen D2 may include a label indicating medical information 70 generated based on the tomographic image Tx. In FIG. 7, labels indicating negative medical information 70 are marked with "(-)", and positive and negative labels are color-coded. By displaying the label indicating the medical information 70 on the display 24, the user can easily grasp the contents of the medical image (tomographic image Tx) and the new sentence 62. FIG.

As described above, the existing sentence 60 and the new sentence 62 are sentences describing different medical information of the same subject. At least one of the existing sentence 60 and the new sentence 62 may include a sentence generated based on medical images.

(Rearrangement of observations)
Next, with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9, the function of each processing unit related to rearrangement of existing sentences and new sentences will be described. In the following explanation, the existing sentence 60 shown in FIG. 6 is used as the existing sentence, and the second candidate new sentence 62-2 shown in FIG. 7 is used as the new sentence.

The acquisition unit 30 acquires at least one existing sentence 60 from the report server 7, the storage unit 22, etc., as described above. The acquisition unit 30 also acquires a new sentence 62 written after the existing sentence 60 generated by the generation unit 32 .

The identifying unit 34 identifies medical information 72 from each of the existing sentence 60 and the new sentence 62 . Specifically, the identifying unit 34 identifies at least one word representing the medical information 72 included in the existing sentence 60 and the new sentence 62 acquired by the acquiring unit 30 . As a technique for identifying words included in the observation text, a known named entity extraction technique using a natural language processing model such as BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) can be appropriately applied.
Further, for example, words that represent the medical information 72 may be stored in the storage unit 22 in advance as a dictionary, and the words included in the observation statement may be specified by referring to the dictionary.

The medical information 72 specified by the specifying unit 34 from the existing sentence 60 and the new sentence 62 is the same information as the medical information 70 generated from the medical image by the generating unit 32 described above. Specifically, the medical information 72 may be information indicating at least one of the type of organ, the type of lesion, and the type of examination. FIG. 8 shows an example of medical information 72 identified from existing

sentences

60A and 60B obtained by dividing the existing sentence 60 and the new sentence 62, respectively. FIG. 8 shows, as an example of the medical information 72, the types of organs ("neck", "liver", and "lung") described in each finding statement. As shown in FIG. 8, when multiple sentences are included in the existing sentence 60 and the new sentence 62, the specifying unit 34 may specify the medical information 72 on a sentence-by-sentence basis.

Also, the new sentence 62 shown in FIG. 8 does not include the word "lung", but includes the word "lower left lobe S6" representing the lung region. In this way, the identification unit 34 does not limit the medical information 72 included in the observation sentence to the medical information 72 representing the word itself ("lower left lobe S6") contained in the observation sentence, but also other related medical information 72 ( "lungs") may be specified.

In addition, in the case of the new sentence 62, the medical information 70 is generated by the generating unit 32 in the process of generating the new sentence 62 as described above. The identifying unit 34 may divert the medical information 70 generated by the generating unit 32 based on the medical image or the like and identify it as the medical information 72 included in the new sentence 62 .

Based on the medical information 72 described by each of the existing sentences 60 (60A and 60B) and the new sentences 62 specified by the specifying unit 34, the determination unit 36 determines the existing sentences 60 (60A and 60B) according to a predetermined rule. and the new sentence 62 are determined. Predetermined rules may be stored in the storage unit 22, for example.

Specifically, the determination unit 36 may determine the order of arrangement so that the existing sentences 60 and the new sentences 62 are arranged according to the type of medical information 72 (that is, the type of organ, the type of lesion, the type of examination, etc.). good. In the example of FIG. 8, the medical information 72 (“cervical region”, “liver” and “lung”) indicating the type of organ included in each of the existing sentences 60 (60A and 60B) and the new sentence 62 is the head of the human body. They are arranged in the order of "cervical region", "lung", and "liver" so as to line up from the side to the waist side.

The control unit 38 rearranges the existing sentences 60 (60A and 60B) and the new sentences 62 based on the order determined by the determination unit 36, and collectively generates one observation sentence (hereinafter referred to as a "combined sentence 64"). do. The combined sentence 64 generated in this manner has the existing sentences 60 (60A and 60B) and the new sentences 62 arranged according to a predetermined rule, and is an easy-to-read sentence.

Also, the control unit 38 performs control to display the generated combined sentence 64 on the display 24 . FIG. 9 shows an example of a screen D3 displayed on the display 24 by the controller 38. As shown in FIG. Screen D3 includes a combined sentence 64. FIG. As shown in FIG. 9, the control unit 38 highlights the portion corresponding to the new sentence 62 in the combined sentence 64, and displays the combined sentence 64 (the existing sentence 60 and the new sentence 62 after rearrangement). 24 may be controlled. As means for highlighting, for example, in addition to the underline 98 shown in FIG. You can

Also, as shown in FIG. 9, the control unit 38 preferably causes the display 24 to display information 68 indicating the rules for the order of arrangement in the combined sentences 64 . The screen D3 includes the words "in order of organs (from the head to the waist)" as information 68 indicating the order of arrangement.

When further adding an observation sentence regarding another tomographic image to the combined sentence 64, the user operates the slider 92 on the slider bar 90 on the screen D3 to display the tomographic image for which the observation sentence is to be generated on the screen D3. Then, the observation text generation button 94 is selected. When the user selects the observation sentence generation button 94, each processing unit treats the combined sentence 64 as the existing sentence 60, sets the observation sentence to be newly added as the new sentence 62, and generates and rearranges the new sentence 62 described above. repeat.

On the other hand, when the interpretation report is completed, the user selects the completion button 96 included in the screen D3. When the user selects the completion button 96 , the control unit 38 requests the report server 7 to register an interpretation report including the combined sentence 64 .

(Rule of order)
In the above description, an example in which the existing sentences 60 and the new sentences 62 are rearranged according to the type of the medical information 72 has been described, but the rules for the arrangement order of the existing sentences 60 and the new sentences 62 are not limited to this. Another example of the arrangement order rule will be described below.

)
For example, the determination unit 36 may determine the alignment order so that the existing sentences 60 and the new sentences 62 are arranged according to the properties of the medical information 72 indicating the properties of the lesion. For example, if both the existing sentence 60 and the new sentence 62 describe a pulmonary nodule, the determining unit 36 arranges the existing sentence 60 and the new sentence 62 so that the overall shape, the marginal shape, and the relationship with the surrounding tissue are arranged in this order. The new sentences 62 may be rearranged. Further, for example, the determination unit 36 may rearrange the existing sentences 60 and the new sentences 62 so that the positive findings are located at the beginning of the sentence and the negative findings are located at the end of the sentence.

Further, for example, the identifying unit 34 identifies the factuality of the medical information 72 from each of the existing sentence 60 and the new sentence 62, and the determining unit 36 determines the factuality of the medical information 72 identified by the identifying unit 34 according to the existing sentences. The order of arrangement may be determined so that 60 and new sentence 62 are arranged side by side. Factuality means the presence or absence and degree of certainty of lesions, properties, disease names, and the like. In the interpretation report, for example, there are uncertain lesions such as "pulmonary adenocarcinoma is suspected." This is because there are cases where the properties and disease names are intentionally described. For example, the determining unit 36 arranges the existing sentences 60 so that the observation sentences regarding the lesion, characteristics and disease name with high accuracy are positioned at the beginning of the sentence, and the observation sentences regarding the lesion, characteristics and disease name with low accuracy or non-existence are positioned at the end of the sentence. and new sentences 62 may be rearranged.

Also, for example, the determination unit 36 may determine the order of arrangement so that the existing sentences 60 and the new sentences 62 are arranged in the order of importance of the medical information 72 whose importance is predetermined. For example, the determining unit 36 may determine the order of arrangement so that the existing sentence 60 and the new sentence 62 with higher importance of the medical information 72 are positioned closer to the beginning of the sentence. The importance of the medical information 72 may be set in advance, or may be arbitrarily set by the user.

For example, a high degree of importance may be set for properties with a high risk of aggravation. Also, for example, the importance of organs and lesions reported as the subject's medical history may be set high. Also, for example, the importance of organs, lesions, and examinations that are frequently examined may be set high.

Further, for example, the determination unit 36 may determine the order of arrangement so that the existing sentence 60 and the new sentence 62 are arranged in chronological order of the medical information 72 indicating the time point of the examination. The medical information 72 indicating the time point of the test is, for example, the date and time when the medical image was taken, and the date and time of various tests (eg, blood test, infectious disease test, etc.). For example, when the medical images are taken in multiple times, the determining unit 36 rearranges the existing sentences 60 and the new sentences 62 so that the observation sentences related to the medical images with the latest shooting date and time are positioned at the beginning of the sentences. good too.

Also, for example, the determination unit 36 may determine the order of arrangement based on whether or not the medical information 72 corresponding to the existing sentence 60 and the new sentence 62 is included in the past document. Specifically, the acquiring unit 30 acquires from the report server 7 a past document containing a sentence describing the medical information 72 of the subject for whom the interpretation report is currently being created. That is, a past document is, for example, an interpretation report created in the past. When the past document acquired by the acquisition unit 30 includes the same medical information 72 as the existing sentence 60 and the new sentence 62, the determining unit 36 positions the remark sentence related to the medical information 72 at the beginning of the sentence. Thus, existing sentences 60 and new sentences 62 may be rearranged.

In addition, the above rules regarding the order of listing may be applied in combination as appropriate. For example, after sorting a plurality of observation statements in the order of neck, lung, and liver organs, only the plurality of observation statements regarding lungs may be rearranged in order of importance so as not to change the order of organs.

Note that, when there are a plurality of existing sentences 60 (60A and 60B), the determination unit 36 determines the arrangement order that determines the insertion position of the new sentence 62 while fixing the arrangement order of the plurality of existing sentences 60 (60A and 60B). may decide. In other words, the determination unit 36 may determine the order of arrangement that only defines at which position in the existing sentences 60 the new sentence 62 is to be inserted. On the other hand, when there are a plurality of existing sentences 60 (60A and 60B), the determination unit 36 may determine the order of arrangement including rearrangement of the existing sentences 60 (60A and 60B).

Further, for example, when adding a new sentence 62 to the combined sentence 64, that is, when repeating the rearrangement of the existing sentence 60 and the new sentence 62, the rearrangement including the existing sentence 60 is performed only for the first time, and the second and subsequent times are rearranged. , the order of arrangement of the existing sentences 60 may be fixed. When the existing sentences 60 are also rearranged, the control unit 38 highlights the rearranged existing sentences 60 and displays the combined sentences 64 (the existing sentences 60 after rearrangement and the new sentences 62). You may perform control to display on the display 24. FIG.

The rules for the order of arrangement and whether to fix the order of the existing sentences 60 or to rearrange the existing sentences 60 including the existing sentences 60 may be set in advance, or may be arbitrarily selected by the user. good. Alternatively, for example, it may be set in advance for each user and/or for each subject.

Next, the operation of the information processing apparatus 10 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the information processing apparatus 10, the CPU 21 executes the information processing program 27 to execute the first information processing shown in FIG. The first information processing is executed, for example, when the user gives an instruction to start execution via the input unit 25 .

At step S10, the acquisition unit 30 acquires at least one existing sentence from the report server 7, the storage unit 22, and the like. The acquisition unit 30 also acquires the new sentence generated by the generation unit 32 . In step S12, the identifying unit 34 identifies medical information from each of the existing sentences and new sentences acquired in step S10.

In step S14, the determination unit 36 determines the order in which the existing sentences and the new sentences are arranged according to a predetermined rule, based on the medical information described by each of the existing sentences and the new sentences specified in step S12. In step S16, the control unit 38 rearranges the existing sentences and the new sentences based on the arrangement order determined in step S14, and collectively generates one combined sentence. In step S18, the control unit 38 controls the display 24 to display the combined sentences (existing sentences and new sentences after rearrangement) generated in step S16, and ends this information processing.

As described above, the information processing apparatus 10 according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes at least one processor, and the processor includes at least one existing sentence describing mutually different medical information of the same subject, A new sentence written after the existing sentence is obtained, and the order of arrangement of the existing sentence and the new sentence is determined according to a predetermined rule based on the medical information described by each of the existing sentence and the new sentence. .

That is, according to the information processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment, for an interpretation report including a plurality of observation sentences with different contents such as description target organs, lesions, imaging dates, etc., the description order of each observation sentence is taken into consideration. You can create an interpretation report. Therefore, even if the user adds a new sentence without considering the order of description, an easy-to-read interpretation report can be created in order of description, so that the creation of the interpretation report can be supported.

In the above-described embodiment, the new sentence 62 is a finding sentence generated by the generation unit 32 based on medical information, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, at least one of the existing sentence 60 and the new sentence 62 may be an observation sentence input by the user.

In the above embodiment, for example, the hardware structure of the processing unit that executes various processes such as the acquisition unit 30, the generation unit 32, the identification unit 34, the determination unit 36, and the control unit 38 includes: Various processors can be used, as follows: As described above, the various processors include, in addition to the CPU, which is a general-purpose processor that executes software (programs) and functions as various processing units, circuits such as FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), etc. Programmable Logic Device (PLD) which is a processor whose configuration can be changed, ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) etc. Circuits, etc. are included.

One processing unit may be composed of one of these various processors, or a combination of two or more processors of the same or different type (for example, a combination of a plurality of FPGAs, or a combination of a CPU and an FPGA). combination). Also, a plurality of processing units may be configured by one processor.

As an example of configuring a plurality of processing units with a single processor, first, as represented by computers such as clients and servers, a single processor is configured by combining one or more CPUs and software. There is a form in which a processor functions as multiple processing units. Second, as typified by System on Chip (SoC), etc., there is a form of using a processor that realizes the function of the entire system including multiple processing units with a single IC (Integrated Circuit) chip. be. In this way, various processing units are configured using one or more of the above various processors as a hardware structure.

Furthermore, more specifically, as the hardware structure of these various processors, it is possible to use an electric circuit in which circuit elements such as semiconductor elements are combined.

Also, in the above embodiment, the information processing program 27 has been pre-stored (installed) in the storage unit 22, but the present invention is not limited to this. The information processing program 27 may be provided in a form recorded on a recording medium such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory), a DVD-ROM (Digital Versatile Disc Read Only Memory), and a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory. good. Also, the information processing program 27 may be downloaded from an external device via a network. Furthermore, the technology of the present disclosure extends to a storage medium that non-temporarily stores an information processing program in addition to the information processing program.

The technology of the present disclosure can also be appropriately combined with the above-described embodiment examples. The description and illustration shown above are detailed descriptions of the parts related to the technology of the present disclosure, and are merely examples of the technology of the present disclosure. For example, the above descriptions of configurations, functions, actions, and effects are descriptions of examples of configurations, functions, actions, and effects of portions related to the technology of the present disclosure. Therefore, unnecessary parts may be deleted, new elements added, or replaced with respect to the above-described description and illustration without departing from the gist of the technology of the present disclosure. Needless to say.

The disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2022-024251 filed on February 18, 2022 is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. All publications, patent applications and technical standards mentioned herein are expressly incorporated herein by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication, patent application and technical standard were specifically and individually noted to be incorporated by reference. incorporated by reference into the book.

Claims

comprising at least one processor;
The processor
obtaining at least one existing sentence describing mutually different medical information of the same subject and a new sentence written after the existing sentence;
An information processing apparatus that determines an order of arrangement of the existing sentence and the new sentence according to a predetermined rule based on the medical information described by each of the existing sentence and the new sentence.
The processor
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the medical information is specified from each of the existing sentence and the new sentence.
The processor
3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when there are a plurality of said existing sentences, said arrangement order including rearrangement of said existing sentences is determined.
The processor
3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when there are a plurality of the existing sentences, the arrangement order is determined by determining an insertion position of the new sentence while fixing the arrangement order of the plurality of existing sentences.
the medical information indicates at least one of an organ type, a lesion type, and an examination type;
The processor
The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the arrangement order is determined so that the existing sentences and the new sentences are arranged according to the type of the medical information.
The medical information indicates the nature of the lesion,
The processor
The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the arrangement order is determined so that the existing sentences and the new sentences are arranged according to properties of the medical information.
The processor
Identifying the factuality of the medical information from each of the existing sentences and the new sentences,
The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the order of arrangement is determined so that the existing sentences and the new sentences are arranged according to the factual classification of the medical information.
The medical information has a predetermined degree of importance,
The processor
The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the arrangement order is determined so that the existing sentence and the new sentence with higher importance of the medical information are positioned closer to the beginning of the sentence.
The medical information indicates the time point at which the test was performed,
The processor
The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the arrangement order is determined so that the existing sentence and the new sentence are arranged in chronological order.
The processor
obtaining a past document containing a sentence describing medical information of the subject;
10. The information according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the arrangement order is determined based on whether or not the medical information corresponding to the existing sentence and the new sentence is included in the past document. processing equipment.
The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein at least one of the existing sentence and the new sentence includes a sentence generated based on a medical image.
The processor
The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the existing sentence and the new sentence are rearranged based on the determined arrangement order.
The processor
The information processing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the new sentence is highlighted and the rearranged existing sentence and the new sentence are displayed on a display.
The processor
wherein, when the existing sentences are rearranged, the rearranged existing sentences are highlighted, and the rearranged existing sentences and the new sentences are displayed on a display. The information processing device described.
The processor
15. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein information indicating the rule of the arrangement order is displayed on a display.
obtaining at least one existing sentence describing mutually different medical information of the same subject and a new sentence written after the existing sentence;
An information processing method comprising: determining an order of arrangement of the existing sentence and the new sentence according to a predetermined rule based on the medical information described by each of the existing sentence and the new sentence.
obtaining at least one existing sentence describing mutually different medical information of the same subject and a new sentence written after the existing sentence;
An information processing program for causing a computer to execute a process of determining the arrangement order of the existing sentence and the new sentence according to a predetermined rule based on the medical information described by each of the existing sentence and the new sentence. .